The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

Many dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the northern part of Fukui Prefecture. It is the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum that has made research on these fossils as the hub of dinosaur fossil research in Japan. The FPDM has made research not only on the dinosaur fossils excavated in Fukui Prefecture, but also on those discovered all over the world. A wide variety of exhibition of dinosaur fossils in the FPDM is said to be ranked as the three best ones in the world. In the exhibition room are over forty complete skeletons of dinosaur fossils, which have gained great popularity especially among children.

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

The Field Station of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

Katsuyama Dinopark

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum is one of the leading dinosaur museums in the world located in Katsuyama City known as the treasury of dinosaur fossils in Japan. The spacious museum building using no pillars in it is crammed with various dinosaur skeletons, fossil samples, a diorama with reconstructed models of dinosaurs recreating time immemorial, and so forth. Visitors can see terrifying dinosaur robots up close whose powerful movement looks real. Not only children but adults can enjoy attractive exhibitions in this museum.

Address:

51-11 Terao, Muroko-cho, Katsuyama City

Opening hours:

9 am to 5 pm (entry by 4:30 pm)
* During the Golden Week Holidays: Opening hours are extended for 5 days from May 2 (Sat) to May 6 (Wed/ national holiday) from 8:30 am to 6 pm.
* During summer vacation: Opening hours are extended for 45 days from July 18 (Sat) to August 31 (Mon) from 8:30 am to 6 pm.
* During the Silver Week: Opening hours are extended for 5 days from Sept. 19 (Sat) to Sept. 23 (Wed/ national holiday) from 8:30 am to 6 pm.

Closed day:

The 2nd & 4th Wednesdays / December 29 to January 2 / subject to temporary closing due to partial replacement of exhibitions or facility inspection (For further details, please refer to our website or call us.)

The Field Station of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

The Field Station of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum stands on the excavation site where new kinds of dinosaur fossils such as Fukuisaurs, Fukuiraptor, Fukuititan, etc. were discovered. In this field station, visitors can experience excavating fossils, closely viewing the fossils of dinosaurs footprints or the layers where dinosaur fossils were discovered. They can also receive an explanation of excavated fossils directly from the researchers of the FPDM (the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum). In order to visit the field station, visitors must join the guided bus tour leaving the FPDM.

Open space for experiencing fossil excavation…
Visitors can experience excavating fossils close by the excavation site and receive an explanation of excavated fossils directly from the researchers of the FPDM.

Exhibition hall…
Real fossils of dinosaur footprints are exhibited and the history of excavation and research of dinosaur fossils is lectured in the hall.

Open space for observation…
Visitors can see the excavation site and receive an explanation of Tedori strata layers famous for containing a lot of dinosaur fossils in them.

1st tour: 9 am (held every hour) / The last 6th tour starts at 3 pm.Participants joining this guided tour must take a bus leaving the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. The required time is about 2 hours (one hour for going back and forth and one hour for seeing the excavation site and experiencing excavation).

Closed day:

Undecided

Location:

* Get off at JR Fukui Station and take a Echizen Railway Katsuyama Line train bound for Katsuyama City called "Katsuyama iki" for one hour. Get off at Katsuyama Station. Take a community bus for about 15 min or a taxi for about 10 min.* Change trains at JR Fukui Station to a JR Etsumi-hokusen Line train bound for "Echizen Ono" or "Kuzuryuko". Get off at Echizen Ono Station and take a taxi for about 20 min.

Admission fee:

Elementary and junior high school students: 600 yen / high school and college students: 1,000 yen / Adults: 1,200 yen (Group discount available for a group over 10 people)

Contact info:

0779-88-0001

Katsuyama Dinopark

Katsuyama Dinopark is full of exciting attractions related to dinosaurs. In the park are 24 full-scale dinosaur robots, including those of mamenchisaurs and tyrannosaurus whose entire length are 20m and 13m respectively. Visitors can enjoy the sense of thrills, feeling as if they got lost in the world inhabited by real dinosaurs.

* Get off at JR Fukui Station and take a Echizen Railway Katsuyama Line train bound for Katsuyama City called "Katsuyama iki" for one hour. Get off at Katsuyama Station. Take a community bus for about 15 min or a taxi for about 10 min.* Change trains at JR Fukui Station to a JR Etsumi-hokusen Line train bound for "Echizen Ono" or "Kuzuryuko". Get off at Echizen Ono Station and take a taxi for about 20 min.